Mobile learning allows learners to access content and training materials anywhere, anytime through their mobile devices. It provides an opportunity to extend learning beyond the classroom and encourage collaboration between learners and trainers. Studies show that mobile learning programs have increased in organizations in recent years and can boost learner engagement and information access. Mobile learning enhances the overall learning experience when used as part of a blended learning approach that combines various methods including classroom, online, and mobile.

1. www.martupdate.com76 July 2016 www.martupdate.com 77July 2016
TALENT MANAGEMENT
Pavan Sriram
pavan@ittige.com
Mobile Learning can be a great tool to embrace moments of learning for application of
knowledge when needed. In the time to come, Mobile Learning will not be a ‘choice’ anymore, but
a compulsive mode of learning to stay ahead.
Learning On The Go
learning needs of a 21st century
working professional. Educating
this dynamic workforce,
organisations sometimes need
to go beyond physical confines
of the classroom and the fixed
time periods of the working
day. You will have to allow
learners to access content 24/7,
communicate with colleagues
and trainers, and collaborate
online.
So what it is it about flexible,
online, and mobile learning
that makes it an increasingly
essential aspect of today’s
teaching and learning practice.
What is it about mobile learning
that helps trainers to teach
better, or learners to learn more
effectively?
According to the ATD 2015 State
of the Industry Report, 1.5% of
training hours were completed
via a mobile delivery method in
2014, up from 1.2% in 2013. A third
of organizations had a mobile
learning program of some sort in
place by the end of 2014. Mobile
is used as a reinforcement tool
and placed within a blended
learning curriculum rather than
becoming a primary delivery
method.
Mobile devices, used in
conjunction with near universal
As noted by Irwin Jacobs,
the founding chairman of
Qualcomm, Inc., “always on,
always connected mobile devices
in the hands of learners has the
potential to dramatically improve
learning outcomes.”
Learning is at a critical juncture in
India today. What was designed
for agrarian and industrial
eras, the methodology and
access does not support the
4G/3G wireless connectivity,
are becoming increasing
popular to enable innovation
and help learners, trainers, and
organisations gain access to
personalized digital content and
global best practices in learning
and development. It enables,
empowers, and engages
learning in ways that transform
the learning environment for
learners inside and outside of
their physical work spaces.
At ITTIGE Learning where we
have taken some modest steps
with a few clients to engage
their employees post the
class-room training using our
mobile learning app, we have
seen dramatic improvement of
over 30% in learner engagement
and 50% increase in real-time
information access between
trainers and learners.
To inspire some of you to try out
mobile learning this year –these
are some of the best reasons
I can think of for investigating
and supporting the use of
mobile learning approaches in
both workplace professional
development and training
1. Learners Learning
Everywhere: More people are
learning remotely and outside
their desk space, and recent
studies claim that employees
are happier when they have the
opportunity to telecommute.
With advances in online training
(think MOOCs, which are in
the spotlight today), learners
want, and need, instant access
to information and learning -
without necessarily having to
wait for a trainer to show up in
the training room.
2. Encourages Learning
Retention: By being able to
use mobile devices to extend
learning from the classroom to
the real world, there are more
opportunities to take learning
from the theoretical to the
actionable outcomes. Formal
and informal learning can be
blended and embedded for an
enhanced learning experience
and greater applicability (and
therefore retention) of learning
concepts.
3. Enhances Collaboration:
Content that promotes learning
can be rapidly shared (e.g., audio
and video-aids, best practices,
articles, assessments, lessons
learned, forms, and checklists
and more). Communication
time lags can be reduced with
alerts, status updates, voting,
proactively asking for help,
search, and 1:1 messaging and
chats.
4. Enhances Productivity: From
increasing training compliance
by having more employees
complete modules on their
own terms to saving costs via
digitally-enabled learning, the
ROI on training can increase by
providing learners with learning
experiences that are relevant to
their needs as well as to business
needs. As often as possible,
linking employee job satisfaction
requirements to bottom-line
business needs - workplace
productivity can improve
exponentially.
5. Intrinsically Engaging: Mobile
phones and tablets can make
learning fun, interesting and
powerful. Learning approaches
can be devised to encourage
learners to discover information,
to create their own resources
using images, audio and video,
to share, to collaborate, and to
interact with peer learners.
Mobile learning is definitely
here to stay. As smartphones
and tablets become a near
constant presence in our lives,
almost every type of company
is considering how best to use
mobile devices and applications
to enrich their organizations’
talent development capabilities.
However, by making the
technology serve the unique
environment of mobile learning
and by offering compelling user
interfaces and seamless user
experiences, companies have
the opportunity to energize
the entire ecosystem of talent
development, delivering
compelling learning experiences
for their workforce anytime,
anywhere, and in support of
clear business outcomes.
I look forward to hear from
you at pavan@ittige.com on
what your plans are to deliver
mobile learning and engage
your employees outside the
traditional classrooms? Or, how
we can help you “get up” and go
mobile with learning?
Pavan Sriram is the CEO of ITTIGE
Learning, a performance-based
training company that works with
organisationsto improve learning
outcomes.www.ittige.com
Why Mobile Learning is the Future
Mobile learning is not intended to be a unique
learning method but rather to complement
class-room training, computers and e-learning
Mobile Learning is an essential piece of the
blended learning puzzle